


On the Periphery of the Heroes

by Morgyn Leri (morgynleri)



Series: The Travel Collection: Drabbles, Snippets, and Supershorts [26]
Category: Norse Mythology, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossover, GFY, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-23
Updated: 2013-05-23
Packaged: 2017-12-12 18:24:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/814609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morgynleri/pseuds/Morgyn%20Leri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Snippets and supershorts that touch on <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/series/31025">Archer, Battle-Mage, Trickster, and Warrior</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	On the Periphery of the Heroes

**Author's Note:**

> The current snippet has more to do with the backstory for the series, [A Trickster's Children](http://archiveofourown.org/works/772753), than with the main part of the series. It does, however, include something of spoilers for both.

_Will you hear me?_

The whisper is insidious, first only in the dreams of wandering paths in the endless dark, then in all his dreams (often it's the only part he remembers), finally working its way into his waking hours. Louder in the moments when he's alone and without something to occupy his mind, quieter when he's busy, quietest when he's acting as the coordinator for the Avengers missions. As if whoever is whispering to him tries hard not to disrupt his work, especially when lives rely on his not being distracted.

It takes him months to figure out what the whisper is, and he's still uncertain what to do with the knowledge after. That he's talking to what he'd assumed was an abstract concept to give structure to a myth sounds crazy, even in the privacy of his own mind. Crazy, but real, and if that's not the theme of his life since he joined SHIELD, Phil doesn't know what is.

_What do you want?_

He isn't sure what he expects in return, but a cascade of images and information isn't it, and it takes him long weeks to sort out what the data dump contains and to at least attempt to put together an idea of what it means. The whisper is almost silent while he does so, and he's almost grateful for the quiet, even if he still has a distraction from his usual work.

At least he's not alone in the herding of superheroes when between the missions, even if the others have their own careers to keep up with, and the herding of superheroes happens in what free time they can wrangle. And that his only full-time assistants are a taser-happy perpetual student and an AI who doesn't have any peripherals beyond the computerized parts of Stark Tower. Without them, Phil is half-convinced the Avengers would have broken each other more than they already were.

_Save them._

It is an imperative, a driving force that he can't ignore. To find and release each of those whose images are burned into his mind. The children of an adversary, the nephews of an ally who has his hands full with his new role as monarch. Four, all bound by the will of Odin, and none to be released by the hands of the gods. The easiest, perhaps, is the closest, but what a snake who is wrapped around Earth will do with the ability to move, Phil isn't certain. Jörmungandr could destroy the planet with a squeeze of his coils, and that he hasn't speaks either to a strong seiðr-weaving or a desire to keep the Earth around.

The others will require leaving the planet, and a diplomatic trip to Asgard. Phil hopes he can figure this all out without forcing Thor to cut off Earth from Asgard for an incident. Because if Phil doesn't handle this well, he has little doubt that one or another of the Avengers - Clint he suspects is the most likely - will do something that offends someone (anyone) who might have been involved in whatever happened to the children.

He does the research, and puts together a file for a mission, hoping this goes as well as he wants it to - as he needs it to - and they all come out of this without being tossed out of Asgard or torn to pieces by a giant snake or murdered by someone who feared what he planned to do.

_I will._

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt "tree".
> 
> Originally posted as part of [The Travel Collection](http://archiveofourown.org/works/439754), in the chapter [Branching From the Center](http://archiveofourown.org/works/439754/chapters/1539051).


End file.
